ESKA Stabil (2nd style)

The ESKA Stabil is an interesting mix of a SunTour V and a Favorit Special - and it’s hard to think of two more different derailleurs to try to blend together.

The slant parallelogram, the curve of the knuckles and the two adjustment screws on the rear are pure SunTour V. The pulley wheels, the spring cover on the front knuckle and the way the hanger plate stop works are pure Favorit Special. In another parallel with the SunTour V series, I believe that ESKA also made a version with a long pulley cage.

Like the Favorit, the ESKA may lack a certain polish, but it has a solid and businesslike quality to it. Indeed, belying ESKA’s Sudeten heritage, ‘stabil’ means ‘sturdy’ or ‘well-built’ in German (and I am told that it doesn’t mean anything much at all in Czech).

I think that this is a later version, with the printed foil name plate, industrial grey finish on the outer parallelogram plate and no domed cable clamp nut.